Victor Frankenstein (2015)
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Victor Frankenstein is directed by Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin, Push) and stars Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, The Woman in Black), James McAvoy (X-Men, Narnia) and Andrew Scott (Sherlock. Spectre). "Told from Igor's perspective, we see the troubled young assistant's dark origins, his redemptive friendship with the young medical student Viktor Von Frankenstein, and become eyewitnesses to the emergence of how Frankenstein became the man - and the legend - we know today". Can Warner Bros make monster movies good again? The other monster movie re-tellings haven't faired well with audiences or critics - how will Victor Frankenstein do?
Victor Frankenstein was never a film I was overly excited about - when it was in production and before we saw any trailers, the actual film sounded pretty decent - the cast is impressive - Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy together should make a good film without a doubt right? Wrong. This film is of a pretty similar quality to the recent monster movie re-tellings and to be honest, Dracula Untold was better than this. From research, I have found that the makers of the film have criticised the original Frankenstein story - have they not scene the mediocre trash they have made? Victor Frankenstein has likeable leads but is forgettable and is mediocre at best.
The acting in the film was generally pretty solid and definitely the best part of the film. James McAvoy was pretty fantastic as Victor Frankenstein - he was wacky and gave more evidence that he is a great character actor. If McAvoy hadn't of been in this movie, it would have been much much worse. Daniel Radcliffe on the other hand was generally good. However, I think his performance started off a little rocky. Radcliffe is one of those actors who basically plays the same character every time and he gets away with it because he is good at it. The chemistry between McAvoy and Radcliffe is also a factor that saves this film - it is more electrifying than Frankenstein's lightening rods (which is saying something). No-one from the rest of the cast made any impression on me - they were all mediocre at best.
There wasn't really a clear story for the film until about half way through. It began by showing Igor's story but then after that, it was like 'what is next?', 'where can they go from here?' - surely for a film that is portraying an extremely famous story, we should all have a clear idea about the story? I think Victor Frankenstein was poorly written as a story is not apparent until half way through. There are no clever twists either. One thing I did find interesting about the film is the way it would show like an X-Ray view of the human and point out different body parts - this probably wasn't needed and shows how lazy the script was as the director must have thought 'we need to let the audience know what that is or else it will just go right over their head'. The story, like the whole film was just very bland which brings me on to my next point.
Victor Frankenstein is just a very bland film - if I was writing a positive review, I would love to use phrases like electrifying. However, there just wasn't anything special or memorable here. At least films like Dracula Untold tried to be entertaining by adding a mild element of horror - I think a monster movie should feel a little dark or shocking but Frankenstein does not - it is just a movie that plays it by the numbers.
At least we can have hope for the monster right? Wrong. The monster looked like Groot meets Ultron - it was really strange - it was nothing like Frankenstein. The effects all just looked like video game quality and not silver-screen quality. When I write negative reviews, I can always say 'at least it was nice to look at' - not Frankenstein. However, this film is not as unappealing as that big spot on Igor's back which was a horrific scene.
Victor Frankentein is just a movie that literally makes you say 'meh'. It has nothing going for it - its not special. However, the film doesn't have anything bad enough about it to hate - it is just lazy and bland. The chemistry between McAvoy and Radcliffe is solid but everything else is pure mediocre - from the lazy story to the lacklustre visual effects. If this was a pitch for a new scientific experiment, I don't think it would be approved.
2 STARS
D+
What did you think of VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN? Do you think these modern monster story retellings should stop? - COMMENT BELOW
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